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With climate legislation flat on its back, Collin Peterson goes in for the kill
Collin Peterson, right: plowing over attempts to reign in greenhouse gas emissions. House ag committee chair Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) spent much of last summer gutting the Waxman-Markey climate change bill. Before the legislative process started, Peterson and his allies had made sure that the legislation would place no cap on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. […]
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How to talk to your friends about climate change
I may soon end up walking the streets of Boston with a sandwich board and a tinfoil hat. I know you’ll all remember me fondly when that day comes, and stop to say hello and maybe buy me a sandwich. But in the meantime, with my wits still somewhat collected, I’m going to tell you […]
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Alabama dump taking TVA’s spilled coal ash declares bankruptcy
The landfill in Perry County, Ala. that has been taking coal ash spilled from the failed waste pond at Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston plant has declared bankruptcy — a move that leaves a planned lawsuit to halt the dumping up in the air. Arrowhead Landfill owner Perry-Uniontown Ventures I LLC, also known as Perry County […]
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Friday music blogging: Chris Joss
I apologize to FMB’s five fans — I’ve slacked off the last few weeks. But 2010 music is rolling out, and lots of it is good, so I’m going to try to be more regular about it. I don’t know much about Chris Joss beyond the fact that he’s a French producer that specializes in […]
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Farmers, Idaho utility embrace efficiency and demand response
Four decades ago, when Sid Erwin began his career as an inspector at the Idaho Power Company, a string of new hydroelectric plants was pumping out power faster than locals could buy it. Soon enough, Mr. Erwin recalls, the utility began sending representatives to rural areas, urging farmers to use more electricity when irrigating their […]
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JP Green House intern dines with construction crew
Five construction workers and I crowd around a covered picnic table outside a run-down little house on the outskirts of Boston. Formerly a 100-year-old neighborhood store called "Jack's Corner Store," the place was abandoned for five years before current owners Ken Ward and Andrée Zaleska purchased it in 2008.
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How I Reduced My Natural Gas Use 75 Percent for Less Than $1,400
(Photo credit VA5LF via the Flickr Creative Commons license). Cross Posted from Biodiversivist This is an update to a post I did last winter titled: Weatherization Nation–How I reduced my natural gas use 60 percent for less than $400 In that post I speculated that getting the next 20 percent reduction (for my goal of […]
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Electric Bicycle Rules
Cross Posted from Biodiversivist This is the battery pack that I built for my electric bike. It fits into a standard trunk bag behind the seat. I get a lot of emails from people who want to do the same thing (hook Dewalt 36 volt batteries up in a parallel-series configuration for 72 volts). I […]
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All Aboard the Biomass Bandwagon
(Photo credit cindy47452 via the Flickr Creative Commons license). Cross Posted from Biodiversivist Books extolling the wonders of the coming hydrogen economy turned out to be works of fiction, as have several books about food-based biofuels. In fact, entire books have been written specifically to critique what is found in such books. Are we about […]
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Wild and Scenic
If you are reading this, you are likely sitting in front of a computer. Which will make it easy to do yourself this favor: open your calendar, scroll forward about a year, and circle the date of the next Wild and Scenic film festival. I just spent the past few days in Nevada City, CA–and […]